Doctorow's 'Homeland' a chilling reality

C. A. Bridges24/7

Published: Tuesday, February 5, 2013 at 11:28 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, February 5, 2013 at 11:40 a.m.

After the first few chapters into Cory Doctorow's newest book, "Homeland," I wanted to rush downstairs and redo all of my computer's security. After a few more I was wondering how much of my life was already compromised and if that information was already being used. By the end of the book I wanted to do something about it.

"Homeland" is the sequel to Doctorow's "Little Brother," when teenager Marcus Yallow was mistakenly targeted and intentionally tortured by Homeland Security agents after terrorists attacked San Francisco. When the DHS turned California into a police state for "security," Marcus and his tech-savvy friends managed to outwit, confound, and ultimately expose their tactics to the world.

Now it's a few years later. Marcus is an unemployed college dropout whose parents were laid off in the recession. But he's with his girlfriend Ange at Burning Man, he's just got word of an exciting job for a progressive independent candidate's campaign, and life isn't so bad.

Then a person from the past slips him access to a massive file full of embarrassing dirt on the government and some major companies, and his own personal WikiLeaks begins.

Doctorow's young-adult books have all been fairly blatant calls to action with plots wrapped loosely around them. His characters are likeable and energetic and he brings back some familiar face and a few guest stars, but at times some of the interpersonal subplots, especially the romantic ones, seem tacked on and when all is said and done it's not obvious a lot has really happened.

Fortunately his skill at making activism and cybersecurity seem not only doable but fun makes for compelling reading, and the way he weaves real-life news into the story grabs your attention in ways the actual events never did.

The files Marcus finds on school principals misusing security systems on loaner student laptop webcams to secretly spy and take pictures of them in their homes? It actually happened three years ago in Philadelphia. "Sock puppet" software that maintains many different fake "personas" with their own social network identities, interests and backgrounds so that one person can easily flood Twitter, message boards and comment sections with convincing propaganda and disinformation from "real people" to create a false consensus? It's out there, and PR firms, security companies and even the U.S. military are using it.

Like "Little Brother," the scariest part of "Homeland" is how accurate it sounds. The story seems to happen just barely in the future but every tech device, data-mining tactic and security system is available right now and Doctorow carefully explains most of them. He takes you inside the hacktivist movement, inside an Occupy demonstration, inside the groups who are fighting against secretive manipulation and he shows you just what's at stake.

But his characters also wrestle with the moral aspects of hacktivism. Should they leak the documents? Who might get hurt? How do you get people to care? And how do you keep your own privacy when there are skilled, bored programmers out there who don't believe in it?

(The most moving part isn't in the story. It's the second afterword, written by Aaron Swartz, an amazingly talented programmer and activist who could easily have been the inspiration for Marcus. "This stuff is real," he wrote, as he described how he helped raise awareness, build a massive online movement and bring down the sure-to-pass anti-Internet bill SOPA. But it only works if you get involved, he added, closing with, "Let me know if I can help." Swartz, 26, committed suicide last month, facing decades in jail for downloading millions of academic journal articles from MIT, an offense MIT didn't want to prosecute.)

First and foremost, "Homeland" teaches. How to secure your phone and your computer, how to protect against tear gas and EMP pulses, how to reach voters more effectively, even how to make the perfect cup of coffee. Doctorow speaks directly to all the frustrated people struggling against the economic, political and technological systems stacked against them and shows them how to fight back with style. And there's just enough action and drama and humor to keep you reading compulsively to the end and Googling afterward.

<p>After the first few chapters into Cory Doctorow's newest book, "Homeland," I wanted to rush downstairs and redo all of my computer's security. After a few more I was wondering how much of my life was already compromised and if that information was already being used. By the end of the book I wanted to <i>do</i> something about it.</p><p>Which is exactly what the author had in mind.</p><p>"Homeland" is the sequel to Doctorow's "Little Brother," when teenager Marcus Yallow was mistakenly targeted and intentionally tortured by Homeland Security agents after terrorists attacked San Francisco. When the DHS turned California into a police state for "security," Marcus and his tech-savvy friends managed to outwit, confound, and ultimately expose their tactics to the world. </p><p>Now it's a few years later. Marcus is an unemployed college dropout whose parents were laid off in the recession. But he's with his girlfriend Ange at Burning Man, he's just got word of an exciting job for a progressive independent candidate's campaign, and life isn't so bad.</p><p>Then a person from the past slips him access to a massive file full of embarrassing dirt on the government and some major companies, and his own personal WikiLeaks begins.</p><p>Doctorow's young-adult books have all been fairly blatant calls to action with plots wrapped loosely around them. His characters are likeable and energetic and he brings back some familiar face and a few guest stars, but at times some of the interpersonal subplots, especially the romantic ones, seem tacked on and when all is said and done it's not obvious a lot has really happened. </p><p>Fortunately his skill at making activism and cybersecurity seem not only doable but fun makes for compelling reading, and the way he weaves real-life news into the story grabs your attention in ways the actual events never did.</p><p>The files Marcus finds on school principals misusing security systems on loaner student laptop webcams to secretly spy and take pictures of them in their homes? It actually happened three years ago in Philadelphia. "Sock puppet" software that maintains many different fake "personas" with their own social network identities, interests and backgrounds so that one person can easily flood Twitter, message boards and comment sections with convincing propaganda and disinformation from "real people" to create a false consensus? It's out there, and PR firms, security companies and even the U.S. military are using it. </p><p>Like "Little Brother," the scariest part of "Homeland" is how accurate it sounds. The story seems to happen just barely in the future but every tech device, data-mining tactic and security system is available right now and Doctorow carefully explains most of them. He takes you inside the hacktivist movement, inside an Occupy demonstration, inside the groups who are fighting against secretive manipulation and he shows you just what's at stake.</p><p>But his characters also wrestle with the moral aspects of hacktivism. Should they leak the documents? Who might get hurt? How do you get people to care? And how do you keep your own privacy when there are skilled, bored programmers out there who don't believe in it?</p><p>(The most moving part isn't in the story. It's the second afterword, written by Aaron Swartz, an amazingly talented programmer and activist who could easily have been the inspiration for Marcus. "This stuff is real," he wrote, as he described how he helped raise awareness, build a massive online movement and bring down the sure-to-pass anti-Internet bill SOPA. But it only works if you get involved, he added, closing with, "Let me know if I can help." Swartz, 26, committed suicide last month, facing decades in jail for downloading millions of academic journal articles from MIT, an offense MIT didn't want to prosecute.)</p><p>First and foremost, "Homeland" teaches. How to secure your phone and your computer, how to protect against tear gas and EMP pulses, how to reach voters more effectively, even how to make the perfect cup of coffee. Doctorow speaks directly to all the frustrated people struggling against the economic, political and technological systems stacked against them and shows them how to fight back with style. And there's just enough action and drama and humor to keep you reading compulsively to the end and Googling afterward.</p><p><b>"Homeland" by Cory Doctorow. Tor Teen, 400 pages, hardcover. $17.99, or $9.99 for the ebook.</b></p>